Former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been detained for questioning by French police investigating a prostitution ring.
Mr Strauss-Kahn, once a front-runner for the French presidency, could be held for 48 hours at a police station in Lille, northern France.
Investigators have already questioned a number of prostitutes who have admitted having sex with Mr Strauss-Kahn.
He insists he did not know that the women were prostitutes.
“I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman,” his lawyer Henri Leclerc has told French television.
Full story: Strauss-Kahn questioned in prostitution ring inquiry